1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to steam generators and systems for generation of steam; more particularly, it relates to a system for injecting water into a pressurized heat exchange zone in the form of a patterned spray at heated equilibrium which is converted to steam.
2. The Prior Art
In the past, commercial and/or household steam heat has been generated by bringing large volumes of still water to boiling temperatures within large jacketed vats. However, such steam-generating units require substantial space and substantial energy per volume of steam.
Injection of atomized water into pressurized containers which simultaneously generate steam has not been employed for commercial and household heating because such systems have serious drawbacks.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,800,848 describes a system for water injection into internal combustion engines. However, said system is extremely restrictive with regard to mixing of injected water and steam. Adapting such system to produce sufficient heat and sufficient volume of steam for application to radiated environmental heat within a household or commercial establishment has not been attempted.
U.S Pat. No. 4,989,551 describes the problems associated with the start-up of steam-generating equipment when there is a possibility of slugs of cold water which could be driven into hot steam chambers. When the temperature differential between water and steam is too diverse, and the volume and rate at which such steam must be generated is great, the intermixing multiphase flow can result in a reaction having violent effects on the associated piping system. This reaction is said to be largely due to condensate shock originating from a cold portion of the system being driven into a steam header which has reached operating temperatures. An example of such problems occurs in the steam generators used in the field of secondary petroleum recovery. Although U.S. Pat. No. 4,989,551 discloses the use of a water-diffusion plate for injecting water into such steam headers, this system uses normal boilers for the original source of steam. The system merely serves to augment the volume of steam within a header. Until now, no means had been discovered for containing and controlling condensation shock at an original steam generator.